Wedding DJ at Mint Museum Uptown in Charlotte, NC

The Space

Seventeen thousand visitors came through on opening weekend alone, October 1 to 3, 2010, the debut of the final piece of the $127 million Levine Center for the Arts. Designed by Machado and Silvetti Associates of Boston, the five-story, 145,000 square foot building was built at a cost of $56 to $57 million and holds the Mint’s Craft and Design collection, which grew from 10,000 to 18,000 square feet of gallery space when it relocated here from North Tryon Street.

The building’s signature feature is the Robert Haywood Morrison Atrium, a 4,000 square foot room with a 60-by-60-foot glass wall looking out over Levine Avenue and the Knight Theater. Our team has worked a wedding in this building, where contemporary architecture and city views take the place of the historic brick and gardens found at the Mint’s original Randolph Road location across town.

Capacity & Layout

The Mattye and Marc Silverman Grand Room is the largest reception space, seating 250 to 400 depending on layout, and connects to a semi-covered terrace of roughly 4,000 square feet for guests to step outside without leaving the party. The Morrison Atrium seats 170 to 400 under that glass wall, which makes it the room most couples picture when they choose this venue for photographs.

For a ceremony with readings, a program, or a receiving line under cover, the James B. Duke Auditorium is a 240-seat theater with modern audio and video already built in. Smaller gatherings have options too: the Sally and Bill Van Allen Terrace stands 300, the Queen’s Room stands 250, and private access to the gallery floors on levels three and four is available for a cocktail hour that moves through the art rather than staying in one room.

Amenities

Catering runs exclusively through Something Classic Catering or Best Impressions Caterers, since outside caterers are not permitted, and the museum handles all bar service as well, with outside alcohol barred and cash bars limited to Sunday through Thursday. Food and beverage minimums apply by day: $2,000 on Friday, $3,500 on Saturday, and $1,000 on Sunday for groups of 50 or more, numbers worth building into a budget early.

Parking sits in the adjacent Levine Center for the Arts Parking Garage, with validation vouchers available at $10 per guest, and Mariposa, the museum’s own restaurant on the main level, serves both everyday visitors and event guests. A 25 percent nonprofit discount applies Sunday through Thursday for couples who qualify, and the museum store and interactive Lewis Family Gallery give guests something to explore during a cocktail hour.

Location & Getting There

The museum sits in Uptown Charlotte as part of the Levine Center for the Arts campus, alongside the Knight Theater, which puts a wedding here in the middle of the city’s arts district rather than off in a standalone building. The parking garage next door keeps arrival straightforward for guests unfamiliar with Uptown, and the Levine Avenue views from the Atrium’s glass wall are part of what a couple is paying for when they book this room over the museum’s original location.

The building’s galleries and atriums are built around glass, concrete, and gallery-grade hard surfaces rather than soft, absorptive materials, which is typical of contemporary museum architecture. A DJ setting up in the Grand Room or the Duke Auditorium is working in a space designed for spoken presentations and amplified sound, with the auditorium’s existing audio and video system offering a head start over a raw gallery room.